Internet Word of the Day Archive

March 01, 2010

A service provided by a netcentric company to electronically "sweep" the Net for nasty online rumors about a company. This 24/7 service will monitor the Web, interactive message boards, and newsgroups to ferret out rogue Web sites, bogus rumors, stock manipulations, and other threats to a business's sales, share price, or reputation.

The rate at which data is transferred. This word comes from the industrial age, when factories measured the amount of widgets developed on the assembly line over a period of time (which equaled their throughput). It is said to actually refer to the effective speed of something as opposed to the actual speed.

Please, No Cursing Allowed Here

March 02, 2010

An essential tool for computer users. It is a method of making data smaller so that more of it can be transmitted in less time. Compression takes place via one of several compression standards, including JPG, MPEG, GIF, TIF, and ZIP. Files that contain more sophisticated data, such as audio, video, JAVA, VRML, Shockwave, and other multimedia, are usually compressed quite thoroughly before being made accessible over the Internet. Many shareware or freeware programs found on the Internet come compressed in one of many different formats, such as .ZIP, .HQX, .BIN, or in a self-extracting .EXE format. Programs such as StuffIt and WinZip are available to make the decompression of a compressed file easy and fast. Data compression is an important concern for netcentric businesses: Exponential growth in the volume of data that companies (and individuals) must manage, the increased need for conserving local and network storage space, and the increased need to conserve system bandwidth continue to "drive demand" (or create a need) for data compression tools.

The thousands of dot-com companies that went belly-up due to overambitious business plans, wasted use of VC funds, or poor management; also, those dot-com companies that had to declare chapter 11.

A message sent to an unintended recipient by a sender using the "Reply to All" option in an e-mail program. "Leaky replies" may contain information about the recipient that he or she was not supposed to receive.

March 03, 2010

A popular adjective used to describe almost everything related to computers and Internet technology. It can also refer to other technological pursuits, such as genetic engineering or biotechnology.

As Far As Possible

"Bonnie" is a benchmark that runs a series of tests to measure the performance of Unix file system operations.

March 04, 2010

A Java application that runs on a server and processes server-side requests, usually to access a database or perform an e-commerce transaction. Servlets replace CGI scripts, Active Server Pages (ASPs), and proprietary plugins (written in C and C++ for specific Web servers such as ISAPI and NSAPI).

For example, servlets take advantage of the server's direct network access to business resources like databases, and they can therefore handle activities that shouldn't be performed by an applet running on the customer's computers. (These activities include managing shopping carts and customer accounts, validating credit cards, performing security authentication, and extracting information from databases using JDBC.) With servlets and Java Server Pages, Java began its transition from a novelty to an e-business technology.

A superuseful, link-heavy Web site that's been put together by someone passionate about a particular topic.

You Bet Your Sweet Ass

March 05, 2010

In online advertising, this is a method of tracking whether or not a Web surfer has seen (but not necessarily clicked on) a particular ad banner before going to the Web site promoted on that banner.

Gotta Go Now

In techie speak, a Weblet is the set of documents reachable from some starting set by hyperlinks satisfying some given criteria. A Weblet expresses the notion of one or more hypertext-referenced objects, for example, from a single HTML page to a complete local Web. What is referred to as a Weblet is equivalent to any connected subgraph. For an image of this subgraph, click on the link below. For a practical example of a Weblet, visit the Smithsonian link and play the puzzle!

In short, "pretexting" means impersonating someone else. Pretexting is the act of creating and using an invented scenario (the pretext) to persuade a targeted victim to release information. While it is typically done over the telephone, data brokers also obtain confidential information using computers.

Pretexting is more than a simple lie, however, as it involves some prior research to establish legitimacy in the mind of the targeted individual (such as knowing a Social Security number in advance of contact). This technique is often used to trick a business into disclosing customer information, and is it used by private investigators to obtain telephone records, utility records, banking records, medical records, places of employment, and other information. Pretexting can also be used to impersonate co-workers, police, bank, tax authorities, or insurance investigators, or any other individual who could have perceived authority in the mind of the targeted victim.

Historical perspective: In 2006, Hewlett-Packard hired private investigators to help find the source of information leaks. They used slimy --but legal-- tactics such as digging through trash, sending fake e-mails loaded with hidden tracking software, and tailing journalists who were communicating with HP employees. They crossed the legal line when they used pretexting, or posing as someone else in order to get phone records. The chairman of HP and half a dozen board members resigned or were fired as a result, and the entire debacle shed new light on the possibilities of employee monitoring in the digital age. 

March 06, 2010

Sometimes called a Web agent or an autonomous agent, this is a program that does things for you, such as filtering your e-mail or finding Web sites that suit your interests. Usually, it's an automatic process. The program does its work independently, based on your preferences (you tell it what you want it to do), and then it reports what it finds. To put a search agent, personal assistant, shopbot, or other intelligent agent to work for you, visit the links below!

The unique identification number embedded in a cell phone by the manufacturer to prevent fraud. It differs from the mobile identification number, which is the wireless carrier's identifier for a phone in its network.

A play on words from a candy bar and an old movie called "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," this phrase is seen online by users who are trying to find VAR resources on the Web.

You Will

March 07, 2010

Slang for government.

Using the client/server model and the World Wide Web's HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), it's a software program that serves Web page files to users.

Call For Vote

Humorous office jargon for someone who spends the majority of their time on his or her cell phone making business calls. Typically this person is perceived as constantly asking brainless questions because they do not have the necessary project management skills to be of valuable service to their organization.

March 08, 2010

Considered to be an even lower form of life on the Net than the spod, dweebs are generally found in a similar habitat, though they tend to be more prevalent on talker systems. Upon receiving the desired response to the question, "Are you male or female?" dweebs (unlike spods) will then engage upon a detailed description of themselves and how wonderful they are, apparently hoping to truly impress you with what they consider charm and wit. Nearly all dweebs are male, and very few actually live up to the image they present. Dweebs are often the cause of ill will and may well bring a bad reputation to the chat room or system in question. They tend to be, however, easy to wind up and can be the source of great mirth for the seasoned user.

A helpful program that generally is used to make something else. You'll usually hear it mentioned in the plural form, as in, "Here is a set of development tools" or "When are you going to build me those tools?" A tool can be any of the following (or in some cases, more than one): a small, text-based application; an HTML-editing application; a huge graphics program; a custom-built application that helps a Webmaster or sysadmin maintain his or her content; and/or a little mini-action or function performed within a larger application (for example, "cut-and-paste" or "launch application").

See You Later

Since Unix is a copyright of AT&T, the term "UN*X" was created to avoid having to place a (TM) after the word every time it is used. Lawyers have since determined that the (TM) after Unix is not necessary, but the term UN*X still remains. It is commonly used to refer to the wide variety of Unix-like operating systems, including Linux, HPUX, and Solaris.

March 09, 2010

A variety of software programs that enable live conversations between individuals typing on computers. Common programs for real-time chatting include ICQ, IRC (International Relay Chat), and AIM (AOL's Instant Messenger).

The name for a graphic (or image) purposely made smaller in order to display multiple images on a single Web page. Using thumbnails is popular on the Web because users can review a bunch of images at once, choose the image they like, and click on it to see a larger version.

Another Day Another Dollar

A business model in which some basic services and content are provided for free.

March 10, 2010

A file on a Unix public-access system that alters the way you or your messages interact with that system. For example, your login file contains various parameters for such things as the text editor you get when you send a message.

A revenue sharing arrangement between online advertisers or e-commerce merchants and online publishers or Web site owners, whereby payment is based on performance measures, such as the number of sales, clicks, or registrations that the affiliate refers. In other words, two companies agree to link to one another; if someone clicks from site A to buy something at site B, site A gets a commission on the sale. Affiliate marketing is a marketing channel used to generate leads or sales, whereas affiliate software provides the tracking and reporting of these commission-based activities (the sales, clicks, or registrations). Amazon.com pioneered affiliate marketing by getting as many other Web sites as possible to join its affiliate network and sell its products, thereby greatly extending its marketing reach.

Change Of Subject

March 11, 2010

A type of iTV ad in development, online advertisers are proposing Simple DALs and Complex DALs. A Simple DAL refers to the data that users reach on the screen, once they leave a video (TV) stream. Viewers will be able to leave a broadcast stream, beyond the duration of an ad, but will then get rapidly returned to it after navigating past some qualifier screens. Complex DALs allow viewers to leave the broadcast stream for a lengthy or indefinite period of time in order to navigate a rich DAL.

It is the practice of "networking a bunch of computers." Network computing depends on network protocols that define a common set of rules and signals that computers on the network use to communicate. One of the most popular protocols for LANs is Ethernet. Network computing makes it easy for an IT department to upgrade the shared software programs a company uses.

Small businesses can netsource to a variety of service providers, such as an ASP that uses in the cloud technology to provide access to software that is consistently upgraded and managed. Computers on a network are sometimes called nodes. Computers and devices that allocate resources for a network are called servers.

The plastic wrapping on packaged, off-the-shelf software that's sold in brick-and-mortar stores. Software packaging is considered outdated by many and is being replaced by online sales and downloads over the Net. Shrink-wrapped software also refers to mass produced software, as opposed to custom-designed software.

Grinning, Ducking and Running

March 12, 2010

Used as a verb, the term "author" means to create or publish a script, program, or document. Generally, this is done with an authoring or scripting language, such as C, C++, HTML, or Java. Whatever programming language you choose, a wide variety of authoring tools are available for download or purchase to assist you.

A phrase that describes an instant, Zen-like understanding of a problem and how to solve it. It also refers to the ability to write complex software without any major adjustments or rewriting.

Online jargon used to describe a forward slash in a URL. When describing an Internet address at Microsoft, for example, you will commonly hear "http colon whack whack dub-dub-dub dot microsoft dot com whack partners" which translates to "http://www.microsoft.com/partners". Apparently it is also used, at times, to describe a back slash as well.

An older definition of "whack" according to arch-hacker James Gosling, is "To modify a program with no idea whatsoever how it works." In this definition, it is a "whacker" who is doing the "whacking."

Thirdly, another definition of whack as specified in M$spec, refers to the path name on a server, which leads to a UNC joke of server Patty having a resource named GiveYourDogABone: What's the mapping to it? PattyGiveYourDogABone} (That should give you a real taste of geek humor.)

Left a Message To Contact

March 13, 2010

An error message caused by the premature termination of a Web page download. This can occur for several reasons. For example, you may get this message if you hit the Stop button on your browser before a page has fully loaded, or if the server sending the file shuts down or is rebooting.

Submitting multiple, yet slightly altered, Web sites to a search engine, in hope of getting listed at the top of the results. Spamdexing is considered an online marketing strategy by misguided execs who also use word stuffing and bait-and-switch tactics.

You Know What I Mean

In computer programming, XUL is an XML user interface markup language (developed by the Mozilla project) which operates in Mozilla cross-platform applications such as Firefox and Flock. The Mozilla Gecko layout engine provides an implementation of XUL used in the Firefox browser.

Basically XUL relies on multiple existing Web standards and technologies, including CSS, JavaScript, and DOM. Such reliance makes XUL easy to learn for people with a background in web-programming and design.

Specifically XUL has no formal specification and does not inter-operate with non-Gecko implementations. However, it uses an open source implementation of Gecko, tri-licensed under the GPL, LGPL, and MPL. Mozilla provides experimental XULRunner builds to let developers build their applications on top of the Mozilla application framework and XUL in particular. XUL provides a portable definition for common widgets, allowing them to move easily to any platform on which Mozilla applications run.

March 14, 2010

An option in File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that allows you to connect to an FTP site, search through available files, and download any file, document, or program without having to establish an account (a username and password) on the system where the material resides. Most FTP servers allow a limited amount of anonymous FTP users to login at the same time and access only designated files.

The time it takes to devise a new product, design it, produce it, sell it, and deliver it. Companies in the new economy are fixated on being first-to-market. Traditionally, time-to-market referred to the amount of time it took for a farmer to get his goods to the marketplace.

Slang for the excess body fat one acquires through overeating and lack of physical activity due to playing online multi-user dungeons (MUDs) for extended periods of time.

Thank You Very Much For Your E-Mail

March 15, 2010

Simply put, it's a book that can be downloaded and read on a computer or other digital device. For example, envision a brave new world where freshmen college students load their electronic book readers with "e-books" that contain their curricula and textbooks for the next four years, then they simply log on to the Internet for updates. The challenge is developing a hardware medium that will make e-reading more soothing on the eyes. For most e-book formats, you need a PDA or handheld device. Advances are being made regard to the quality of e-book readers, click on the "more info" button below!

There are several e-book formats:

• The Mobipocket Reader
• The Adobe / Glassbook eBook Reader
• Microsoft Reader
• PALM OS or WINDOWS CE
• HTML format
• The Open eBook Publication Structure
• The Rocket eBook
• The SoftBook
• Adobe PDF
• Rich Text Format
• ASCII

Click on "more info" below to find out more about each e-book format!

The process by which Hollywood studios scoop up all conceivable intellectual rights to a given property by burying perpetual, universal "multimedia" rights within the contractual boilerplate.

own

The first round of capital for a start-up business. Seed money usually takes the structure of a loan or an investment in preferred stock or convertible bonds, although sometimes it is common stock. Seed money provides start-up companies with the capital required for their initial development and growth. Angel investors and early stage venture capital funds often provide seed money. 

March 16, 2010

Refers to stored content that users can access whenever they want, as opposed to live or one-time-only broadcast events.

A connection point on a computer, it's used to connect a serial interface device (such as a mouse or modem) to the system. Serial ports are typically identified as COM ports, and most computers come with two (often with the capacity to add more).

Don't You Just Hate It When...

March 17, 2010

A Web site that offers organizations consolidated access to learning and training resources created by multiple sources. A company that provides this type of service is also called a "content aggregator."

A person who just has to have the latest in high-tech gadgets. Similar to upgrade fever, only this term implies a fetish for hardware.

I have a question

March 18, 2010

To arrange a collection of items into a specific order. The items could be records, files, directories, or data structures. Sorting orders include ascending or descending, numerical, alphabetical, and chronological.

Slang for a department within a company that has no apparent function. Its only distinction is that it was created during a trendy management fad.

The playful nickname of the east wing of the show floor at Electronic Entertainment Expo, where the start-ups and minor players have booths. The E3 majors, some with two-story booths, generally occupy the west wing.

March 19, 2010

Remember CB radio? Your handle is your online nickname or the name you go by in a chat room. Sometimes, a handle serves as a username, but certain Web fanatics even get their own domain name based on a handle.

For example, Erin's handle is sistergoldenhair.

A so-called truism of business, it refers to gaining a powerful competitive edge by being the first company to establish itself in a market (or by being an early successful player). In other words, a company attempts to become the most popular brand name within an industry segment due to the fact that it was the first to get its brand name known as the brand to buy within a particular niche. Referred to by some execs as a "sprint-and-spend strategy," it requires a large amount of marketing dollars to launch a new brand. Quite simply, it means getting a head start on everyone else in your industry.

An example is Amazon.com, which grew to be a national brand in just a few short years. It seized first-mover advantage by getting its products and brand name first-to-market within the online book industry, thus grabbing a large percentage of market share (despite the fact that it was not the first or only bookseller on the Web).

March 20, 2010

In the context of the Internet, this is an interface that integrates WWW applications with sophisticated database programs. For example, the homepage of a search engine is a database front end. Its easy-to-use GUI simplifies what you see, yet at the same time, a highly sophisticated technical process is at work behind it (the back end)..

Yet Another

An online ad, such as an interstitial, it is displayed in a new browser window when you click from one page to another. A pop-up ad, as well as a pop-under ad, is most commonly the size of the image to the right.

This type of online advertising is annoying for most Internet users because it interferes with what you are doing, and it is something that appears without you wanting it or taking any action. One way to rid yourself of pop-up ads is to download a toolbar (such as the Google toolbar) or download an anti-spyware program. See the spyware defintion for download resources!

Click on "more info" below to view pop-up ads and rectangles.

Geek euphemism for having sex. "I went to the Oracle party the other night hoping for a little 'client-server action'."

March 21, 2010

Slang for a dot-com exec who suppresses technological innovation within his or her own company out of concern that it will detract cash flow from the flagship product.

An industry opinion leader who can envision a brilliant new technology. It does not refer to a person who can see the future, but rather someone who sees the value in the work other people have done. There are many visionaries in the Internet industry, notably Linda Stone at Microsoft and Paul Saffo at the Institute for the Future.

A technology used to create wireless networking, it is also dubbed "Real Fast."

March 22, 2010

One of several top-level domains assigned to URLs that are of a commercial nature (for example, www.netlingo.com). Other domain suffixes include .ac, .co, .mil, .gov, .net, .org, and a long list of country codes.

For a list of new domain name suffixes, read the domain name definition. FYI: As of early 2007, there were about 62 million ".com" names in use ;-) Internet trivia!

A form of CRM, it is a tactic that uses e-mail to establish a bond between consumer and company.

Very Well Done

March 23, 2010

The number of TCP/IP packets traversing a network.

Does What You Mean

An informal gathering for dot-commers who get laid off on a Friday. There are actually bars in Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley that cater to these newly displaced souls. It is the opposite of a cybersuds gathering.

Slang for outside experts who are brought in to reduce the employee head-count (leaving the top brass with clean hands).

March 24, 2010

A message or posting to a newsgroup. Some newsreader programs can filter out old articles you may have already read.

Don't Know Don't Care

The term "neighboring" refers to an online marketing strategy that uses live interactive sessions, such as instant messaging (IM), to initiate product and service recommendations across various user groups. Unlike many marketing campaigns, neighboring uses dialogs that are initiated, modified, and terminated by individuals within an IM network -- not by a corporation or marketing firm, thereby allowing advertisers to gain access to closed-social networks by using real-time communication tools. The power of the neighboring model lies within the influence an individual has in an established small network, as well as the strength of the relationship an individual has with an advertiser. Neighboring advocates assert that it provides cost-effective online acquisition activities, deeper customer relationships, and the ability to expand reach online.

Next-generation wireless technology that supports data speeds up to 2 Mbps but requires extra spectrum. UMTS is the standard name for W-CDMA.

March 25, 2010

A set of characters that contains both letters (alpha) and numbers (numeric). Often used in cryptic passwords, alphanumeric codes can also consist of punctuation and symbols found on a standard keyboard. For example, "Ax23!*jP5" represents an alphanumeric cryptic password.

Commonly heard in cell phone conversations, it does not mean the end of a relationship. It means, "I can't hear you because there is static on the line."

Voice mail is the modern equivalent of an answering machine, as in "I left you a message on your voice mail." 

This term is also used to describe the automated voice system that many companies use to handle incoming calls, the kind where an automated voice (see: concatenated speech) interacts with the caller and handles the directory.

Historical perspective: There was a time in living memory when there was no voice mail (the early 1970s); then came the era when voice mail was king (first customer installation by IBM February, 1982); now it is languishing (2010). Consider this editorial by Eric Effron as seen in The Week, April 17, 2009:

"Well at least it's not just me. I've been feeling a little hurt lately because my kids have been routinely ignoring my voice mails. Are they so busy, a voice in my head asks (a voice that sounds disturbingly like my father's), that they can't bother to respond to their dear old dad? But I shouldn't take these snubs personally. A new telecom industry study found that more than 30 percent of voice messages languish unheard for at least three days, and that more than 20 percent of people with voice messages in their mailboxes rarely bother to check them at all. The anti-voice mail movement is strongest among the young --a reliable indication of voice mail's coming demise. People under 30 are four times more likely to respond within minutes to a text message than to a voice message. "Stop leaving me voice mails," my son implored me. "If I see I missed your call, I'll call you back. Deal?"

"I made the deal. What choice did I have? I'm up against a force far more powerful than I: instant gratification. As The New York Times reported last week, thanks to text messaging, IMs, Twittering, and other forms of instant communication, for a growing number of people the process of retrieving voice messages now feels painfully slow and cumbersome. In fact, Google and other companies are developing services that translate voice mails into texts and deliver them to e-mail boxes. So soon enough, we may never have to listen to those dreaded voice messages again. "Text is the future of voice mail," technology trend tracker Piers Fawkes tells the Times. Who knows? Maybe someday, we won't have to actually to each other either." - Eric Effron

disconnected

March 26, 2010

see: smart home

March 27, 2010

A general programming environment for automating the distribution of complex computing tasks over a networked system of heterogeneous computers.

A link from someone else's Web site to your site.

One of the most important and challenging factors in promoting your Web site is encouraging other Web sites to link to yours. The more sites that link to yours, especially if they have similar or related content, the more of an "authority" you become in the eyes of the search engines. However, because you have little control over other Web sites, it takes a lot of person-to-person communication to make these links happen and it takes time to establish long-term relationships with other site owners.

Tips and white hat techniques from FortyMedia.com for building inbound links:

• Ensure you have a high quality Web site to which site owners can feel comfortable sending their visitors;
• Create content worth linking to (articles, how-tos, games, lists, etc.);
• Focus on acquiring links from sites with related content;
• Avoid artificial link building and link farms (a black hat SEO technique);
• Try to get listed in industry directories, association Web sites, etc.;
• Create side project sites that can link to your main business Web site.

Click on "more info" below to read about Google's Link Filter.

All My Roommates Thank You For The Show

March 28, 2010

Thin wire Ethernet.

An industry buzzword that either means "the good news" or a product's potential for future sales.

The name of the small, plastic pen you use when adding or editing information on a PDA (such as a Palm Pilot). The writing instrument portion of a "pen and tablet" peripheral is also called a stylus.

Soon To Be Ex

March 29, 2010

a.k.a. "TIFF" ".tiff"

A graphic file format developed by Aldus and Microsoft, it's used for still-image bitmaps. TIFs are stored in tagged fields, and programs use the tags to accept or ignore fields, depending on the application. You may encounter a TIF if someone e-mails you a picture in that format. (Other file types include BMP, EPS, GIF, JPG, PCT, PSD.) The shorter file extension, TIF (without the second "F"), is used for PC-based TIFF files. TIFF stands for "Tagged Image File Format."

For a list of file extensions click here!

Slang for the human brain.

The modern business title for a graphic designer, it refers to one who manipulates images in digital form for display in a variety of media (including print or digitally).

March 30, 2010

An online community where users read and post topics of common interest. BTW: the plural of "forum" is "fora."

A popular first word of many Web site names, it refers to the personalized content area of a portal or business service. For example, My Yahoo! or My Schwab.

Slang for a new generation of cybercops who want to remove pornographic images (often posted in JPEG format) from the Internet.

No

March 31, 2010

The online version of a couch potato, as in, one who sits for an extended period of time in front of the computer screen just surfing around. Instead of using the thumb to press down on the remote control, the pointer finger is constantly called upon to "surf" from one "site" to another.

A unit of measurement for electrical vibration, equal to one million cycles of electromagnetic currency per second. It is commonly used as a unit of measure for the clock speeds of computer microprocessors (for example, 100 MHz and 133 MHz). The speeds of buses and interfaces are also measured in MHz.

An online ad that consists of a text-based hyperlink. Commonly seen in e-newsletters and in the footers of Web sites. For example, if you scroll down on this page, the "NetLingo Partners" section is a series of text ads.

Found On Road Dead -or- Fixed Or Repaired Daily -or- F***ed Over Rebuilt Dodge